Li Xiaomin, Party secretary of Wuxi, delivers a key speech at the opening ceremony of the New-gen Manufacturing Conference of Xuelang Town on June 30. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province has become a high-land for the manufacturing industry, said Li Xiaomin, Party secretary of the city, at the New-gen Manufacturing Conference of Xuelang Town held from June 30 to July 1.

Over the past few years the city has made tremendous achievements by emphasizing the integration of the manufacturing sector with the internet of things (IoT).

In 2017, the contribution rate of the manufacturing industry to Wuxi's GDP growth was 43.3 percent and to tax revenue was 52.6 percent. The city had 12 enterprises included in the list of China's top 500 enterprises and 24 in the China top 500 manufacturers list, both ranking first in Jiangsu province. As many as 25 enterprises, more than 20 percent of the total number in Jiangsu, had annual operating income of over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

Li Xiaomin (L3) visits the exhibition area of the New-gen Manufacturing Conference of Xuelang Town on June 30. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As of now, the city is home to more than 2,000 IoT enterprises. More than 3,000 talented individuals and 150,000 people engage in IoT businesses. In 2017, IoT related industries had operating income of more than 200 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the total of Jiangsu province and 25 percent of the whole country.

To encourage further development in the manufacturing sector, Wuxi's Party secretary Li proposed to "speed up the development of the advanced manufacturing industry by making scientific and technological innovation".

In an era of rapidly developing technologies and industries, it is necessary to apply the technologies of IoT, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligent to the manufacturing industrial chain to link equipment, factories, enterprises and clients together and drive reform in the fields of research and development, production management and service models.